August 23, 2009
Off-road Trails Overlap with Silver State Solar Project Near Primm, NV
At a Bureau of Land Management scoping meeting on August 12, 2009, at Primm on the border of Nevada with California, off-road enthusiasts voiced concern over the NextLight Silver State South proposal to place photovoltaic panels on 7,800 acres of public land. One man gave testimony that the large fan of Mojave desert scrub and washes was supposed to be a special management unit for OHV recreation, not for power plants.
BLM and NextLight say they are working with OHV groups to minimize the impacts this project has on staging areas and routes of travel. NextLight has approached BLM with various alternatives to maintain public access to the Lucy Greys and minimize impacts to Special Recreation Management Areas (SRMA).
Las Vegas resident Ken Freeman spoke about how he was concerned about loss of areas for off-road vehicles. The site is one of the few in southern Nevada approved for use by off-roaders. He also stated that “this is prime tortoise habitat,” suggesting a site that is not as attractive to tortoises might be better suited to a solar plant. The proposal site is also an area where four competitive off-road races take place annually.
Freeman also noted that the NextLight officials said they plan to wash the solar panels twice a year, but with off-road races nearby, they may find they will have to wash them more often. Eric Record, a fellow off-roader, said he thinks the company will try to coexist with off-roaders but find it too difficult.
“Once they get a taste of one or two events, they may not want to play nice anymore,” he said. “They may ask the BLM to stop the races.”
Members of Basin and Range Watch had walked on the site a few weeks earlier, and found no OHV tracks off their trails. Here it looks like OHVs and tortoises coexist well. We would rather have the races and trail-riding on this fan than the giant solar development, and applaud the OHV community for caring more about public desert lands than most environmentalists. We will have more on this story soon.
See also the story in the Las Vegas Sun >>here.
^Lucy Grey Mountains and the fan below it where NextLight is seeking to place a large solar development.
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